GB2RS

GB2RS NEWS

Sunday 10th February 2019

 

The news headlines:

New IOTA being activated for first time

Train the Trainers in Cambridgeshire

Next weekend it’s Thinking Day on the Air

 

A new Islands on the Air island, Inakari Island, EU192, is being activated by a small international team for the first time. It will be on the air until Monday the 11th of February at 0600UTC. Kataja/Inakari Island was added to the official IOTA list last year. Martti, OH2BH; Nigel, G3TXF; Niko, OH2GEK and Gerben, PG5M, will be travelling by snowmobile several kilometres over the frozen surface of Bothnian Bay to set up camp on the Finnish part of Inakari Island, where they will use an abandoned fisherman’s refuge. The Island is part of the Bothnian Bay National Park. The team will run two stations simultaneously on 80, 40, 30, 20, 17 and 15 metres using CW and SSB. The callsign to look for is OH10X. QSL via PG5M using Club Log.

A Train the Trainers course is being organised and hosted by Huntingdon Amateur Radio Society for the 30th of March. It will take place in Buckden, St Neots, Cambridgeshire. If you wish to reserve a place then please contact the organiser, David Howlett, by email to [email protected] He will be able to give you further details and take your booking.

Thinking Day on the Air takes place next weekend, the 16th and 17th of February. A list of known stations is displayed on the Station List page of the website www.guides-on-the-air.co.uk Currently, as well as UK stations, Guides and Scouts are taking part from Canada, USA, and the Netherlands. Please send in station details via the website or to [email protected] If you hear these stations on the air, please give the young people taking part plenty of good contacts.

CQ Magazine has announced that nominations for the CQ Contest Hall of Fame are being accepted until the first of March. Individuals, clubs, and national organisations may submit nominations. Nominations should clearly indicate that they are for the Contest Hall of Fame and detail the reasons and basis for the nomination, which may be found at www.cq-amateur-radio.com Email submission is preferred, with a subject line of Contest Hall of Fame, to [email protected],

National Centers for Environmental Information scientists have updated the world magnetic model mid-cycle, as Earth’s northern magnetic pole has begun shifting quickly away from the Canadian Arctic and toward Siberia, an NCEI report said this week. The new model more accurately represents the change of the magnetic field since 2015. The alteration could have an impact on government, industry and consumer electronics. To read the full report, go to tinyurl.com/y8abnjag

The UK Six Metre Group is looking for a Membership Secretary. They say that the only qualifications are a thorough approach, good IT skills because their membership database is built using Microsoft Access, and the time to give the job regular attention. Plus, of course, a keen interest in the 6 metre bands! If you think you might be interested in getting involved, please get in touch by email to [email protected]

Region 1 of the IARU has a Youth Contest Program where young people have the opportunity to take part in a contest from one of the top contest stations in the Region. So far, 9A1A, ES9C and 4O3A are signed up to support young amateurs, alongside LX7I, LZ9W, OZ5E and DP9A. An application form and more details can be found at www.ham-yota.com

This year’s RSGB Club of the Year competition has just one category for entrants and entries must be received by the 28th of February, so there’s still time to take part. See www.rsgb.org/main/clubs/national-club-of-the-year/ The RSGB would like to thank Waters & Stanton for their continue sponsorship of this competition.

And now for the details of rallies and events for the coming week

Today, the 10th, the Harwell Radio & Electronics Rally will take place at Didcot Leisure Centre, Mereland Road, Didcot, Oxon, OX11 8AY, just 3 miles from Milton Interchange on the A34. Doors open at 10am and admittance is £3, with under 12s free. There will be traders, Special Interest Groups and an RSGB Bookstand. Refreshments will be available all day. Talk in is on 145.550MHz, using G3PIA. Details from Ann, G8NVI, by email to [email protected]

Next Sunday, the 17th, the Radioactive Rally takes place at Nantwich Civic Hall, Cheshire CW5 5DG. The venue has free car parking and the doors open at 10.30am. There will be a Bring & Buy, as well as traders and RSGB book stall. Catering is provided on site. Contact Stuart Jackson on 07880 732 534.

To get your event into RadCom, onto GB2RS and on the RSGB website, please send details as early as possible to [email protected] – we need to know about four months in advance for RadCom.

And now the DX news from 425 DX News and other sources

Shabu, M0KRI will be on the air from Burundi between the 15th and the 26th of February. He will operate CW, SSB and PSK31 on the 40 to 10m bands. QSL via Logbook of The World or direct to M0KRI; logsearch on Club Log. Details are under the callsign 9U4RI on QRZ.com

Tom, K8BKM will be active as TO8T from Martinique, IOTA reference NA-107, between the 12th and the 19th of February, including an entry in the ARRL DX CW Contest. QSL via Logbook of The World, Club Log or direct to K8BKM.

Makoto, JI5RPT will be on the air as JD1BLY from AS-031 in Ogasawara between the 15th and 17th of February. He will operate CW, SSB and digital modes on all bands including 630m JT9. QSL via his home call, direct or bureau; Log Search on Club Log.

Jim, WB2TJO will be active as 3D2JS from Taveuni Island, OC-016, in Fiji until the 10th of March. He operates mainly CW. QSL direct to his home callsign.

Armin, DK9PY will be active as FY/DK9PY from French Guiana until the 17th of February. He will operate CW only on various bands, and will participate in the ARRL DX CW Contest. QSL via his home callsign.

Now the special event news

HS55RAST is active until the 31st of March in celebration of the 55th anniversary of the Radio Amateur Society of Thailand. QSL via HS5NMF.

ZW85LABRE will be active until the 31st of March to celebrate the 85th anniversary of Brazil's IARU member society.

Please send special event details to [email protected], as early as possible, for free publicity on GB2RS, in RadCom and online. Remember that UK special event stations must be open to the public, so our free publicity can help make your efforts more widely known.

Now the contest news

The CW WorldWide WPX RTTY contest ends its 48 hour run at 2359UTC today, the 10th. Using the 3.5 to 28MHz contest bands, the exchange is signal report and serial number.

The PACC Contest ends its 24 hour run at 1200UTC today, the 10th. Using CW and SSB on the 1.8 to 28MHz contest bands, the exchange is signal report and serial number, with PA stations sending their Province too.

On Tuesday the 432MHz FM Activity Contest runs from 1900 to 1955UTC, using FM only. It is immediately followed by the all-mode 432MHz UK Activity Contest from 2000 to 2230UTC. The exchange for both contests is signal report, serial number and locator.

On Wednesday the 80m Club Championships runs from 2000 to 2130UTC. It’s the data leg and the exchange is signal report and serial number.

On Thursday the 50MHz Machine Generated Mode Activity Contest runs from 1900 to 1955UTC, using MGM only the exchange is signal report and 4 character Locator. It is immediately followed by the all-mode 50MHz UK Activity Contest from 2000 to 2230UTC. The exchange for this contest is signal report, serial number and locator.

Next weekend the ARRL International DX contest takes place for 48 hours between 0000UTC on the 16th to 2459UTC on the 17th. Using CW only on the 1.8 to 28MHz bands, the exchange is signal report and transmit power. American and Canadian stations will also send their State or Province details.

Now the propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO on Friday the 8th of February.

Matter from a solar coronal hole pushed the Kp index to five in the early hours of Friday the 1st, eventually resulting in much reduced maximum usable frequencies as the ionosphere was depleted. Signals on Saturday the 2nd were noticeably poorer, with even 14MHz struggling. There were also reports of very visible aurora around the Arctic Circle. But the ionosphere recovered quite quickly and, as predicted, the rest of the week was much better.

There were some other HF highlights last week. Chris, G4IFX reported that New Zealand has been a regular on 5MHz FT8 on the long path in the mornings. Predtest shows that a path is currently possible, peaking at around 7am. Speaking of FT8, don’t ignore the higher bands, as 21 and even 28MHz often shows signs of life, with numerous European stations in particular being logged on 21MHz. The low bands also still continue to deliver results, Robert, G4TUK reports working Jeffrey, PJ2ND in Curacao and Ed, P49X in Aruba on 80 metres CW. Roger, G3LDI also worked numerous VK, ZL and W stations in the FOC Marathon on 80 and 40 metres. Make the most of 80m as the nights are slowly getting shorter!

Looking ahead, NOAA predicts that the solar flux index will remain around 71-72 over the next week. Uncharacteristically, geomagnetic conditions are predicted to be relatively quiet over the next seven days with a Kp index of two. This means that this could be a reasonable weak for HF propagation, within the limitations of a very low solar flux index.

And now the VHF and up propagation news.

After a very stormy end to last week with gales and potential antenna damage, you will be relieved to hear that it's looking like a much quieter week to come. From Monday the pressure will start to rise and will soon establish an area of high pressure over the British Isles, which will then slowly drift east to affect much of the continent and Scandinavia. The structure of the likely inversions is such that the western side of the UK and Ireland will enjoy the stronger Tropo, but is likely to affect paths in the east as well, although these may be negatively influenced by colder dry air from northern Europe later in the week. Overall, the Tropo prospects look better generally than during the last two weeks or so.

With positive Moon declination reaching its peak next Saturday it's a good week for EME, with long Moon windows and falling path losses as the week progresses.

With the announcement that the Es’hailSat2 transponders should go live this month, we wait with bated breath for a chance to work via amateur radio’s first geostationary satellite. The AMSAT website says that the 10GHz narrow-band downlink should be receivable with a satellite LNB and a 75cm dish. The 2.4GHz uplink should be sensitive to around five watts to the same size dish with a suitable feed.

And that’s all from the propagation team this week.

GB2RS NEWS

Sunday 3rd February 2019

 

The news headlines:

Enter Club of the Year

50 years of Newsreading

Nominate for CWops Award

 

This year’s RSGB Club of the Year competition has just one category for entrants. As well as being open to clubs of all sizes, entries are welcome from all RSGB affiliated groups. The theme is ‘Meeting RSGB Strategy 2022’. Entries must be received by the 28th of February, so there’s still time to put in an entry. Clubs should read the rules at www.rsgb.org/main/clubs/national-club-of-the-year/ and send entries to their Regional Representative. The RSGB would like to thank Waters & Stanton for their continue sponsorship of this competition.

Victor Gracey, GI3WEM is stepping down as one of the GB2RS newsreaders for Northern Ireland after around 50 years of news reading. The RSGB would like to thank Victor for his service to his fellow amateurs and wish him well in his retirement. The RSGB is therefore looking to finds a replacement news reader in the area as soon as possible. Grant Smith, MI0AWL will continue as a back-up reader when necessary. If you are interested in this volunteer role, please contact the GB2RS Manager Ken Hatton, G3VBA, by email to [email protected]

CWops is now accepting nominations for the CWops Award for Advancing the Art of CW. The purpose of the award is to recognise individuals, groups, or organisations that have made the greatest contribution or contributions toward advancing the art or practice of radio communications by Morse code. Anyone can make a nomination and it should be emailed to [email protected] with a copy to [email protected]. In order to be considered, a nomination must be received by the 1st of March. Details of what to include in your nominations can be found at https://cwops.org/

The RSGB’s EMC committee has updated its advice leaflet number 15 on VDSL Interference. This leaflet explains how to recognise VDSL interference and summarises the measures that people have found that helped to reduce the interference. It must be emphasised that these are things you can try and they are not guaranteed to eliminate the problem at all locations. Indeed in some locations none of these suggestions reduce the problem significantly. It can be found via the EMC publications page on the RSGB website or directly at http://rsgb.org/emcleaflet15 and inks to other EMCC publications on VDSL are also included.

There is still time to organise a Thinking Day on the Air station, which takes place over the weekend of the 16th and 17th of February. Currently, as well as UK stations, Guides and Scouts are taking part from Canada, USA, and the Netherlands. A list of known stations is displayed on the Station List page of the website, www.guides-on-the-air.co.uk

Six News 138 is now available for UK Six Metre Group members to download from their website. It contains forty seven pages of news and comment dedicated to 6m. Get it from www.uksmg.org

One area where the IARU and RSGB volunteers have been active is regarding concerns from Wireless Power Transmission, or WPT. The latest development is the recent approval and publication of CEPT ECC Report-289 on high power WPT for electric vehicles, EV. Following a major effort and numerous contributions to CEPT meetings, this has significant content regarding amateur radio and concerns on spurious emissions. Comments by IARU Region 1, RSGB and Ofcom were included during the final consultation stage. The report is a key element in ongoing work for WRC-19 Agenda Item 9.1.6 on WPT-EV. It can be downloaded, along with many other CEPT documents, from www.ecodocdb.dk/document/category/ECC_Reports

And now for the details of rallies and events for the coming week

Today, the 3rd of February, the 35th SEARS Canvey Radio & Electronics Rally will be held at its new venue, Cornelius Vermuyden School, Dinant Avenue, Canvey Island, Essex SS8 9QS. Admission is £3 and doors open at 10am, or fifteen minutes earlier for disabled visitors. There is free car parking and easy, level ground floor access to two large halls. Tea, coffee, soft drinks and bacon butties will be available. There will be radio, computing and electronics traders and special interest groups. More details via email to [email protected].

If you are fortunate enough to be heading to Florida on holiday in the next week, you may be interest to know that the 73rd Orlando HamCation runs from the 8th to the 10th of February. Head for the Central Florida Fairgrounds and Expo Park, 4603 West Colonial Drive, Orlando, Florida 32808, USA. There will be over 150 commercial sellers, over 200 swap table vendors and the largest tailgate area in the southeastern US. For details see www.hamcation.com

Next Sunday, the 10th, the Harwell Radio & Electronics Rally will take place at Didcot Leisure Centre, Mereland Road, Didcot, Oxon, OX11 8AY, just 3 miles from Milton Interchange on A34. Doors open at 10am and admittance is £3, with under 12s free. There will be traders, Special Interest Groups and an RSGB Bookstand. Refreshments will be available all day. Talk in is on 145.550MHz, using G3PIA. Details from Ann, G8NVI by email to [email protected]

To get your event into RadCom, onto GB2RS and on the RSGB website, please send details as early as possible to [email protected] – we need to know about four months in advance for RadCom.

And now the DX news from 425 DX News and other sources

PJ4/WW4LL and PJ4/NN9DD will be active from Bonaire, IOTA reference SA-006, between the 4th and 10th of February. They will operate FT8, RTTY and SSB on all bands, and will participate in the CQ WPX RTTY Contest on the 9th and 10th as PJ4Z. QSLs via Logbook of The World or K4BAI.

Mike, W1USN and Bob, AA1M will be active as /TI5 from Atenas in Costa Rica until the 13th of February. They will operate CW, SSB, some digital modes and possibly a few of the FM satellites. QSLs via Logbook of The World or via their home callsigns, either direct or via the bureau.

Bogdan, SP2FUD as and Zen, SP2GCJ will be active as XV9FUD and XV9ZT respectively from Vietnam between the 4th and the 18th of February. They will operate CW, SSB and digital modes on the 40 to 12m bands. QSLs via Logbook of The World, Club Log’s OQRS, or via SP2GCJ.

A three-man team will operate from Manus Island, OC-025, in Papua New Guinea as P29VCX until the 5th of February. This will be followed by P29NI from Daru Island, IOTA OC-153, from the 6th to the 11th of February. QSL requests in each case should be sent directly to SM6CVX.

Now the special event news

Look for TM16AAW to be on air from the 10th to the 24th of February to celebrate the 16th Antarctic Activity Week. François, F8DVD will be operational from Mâcon in the east part of France using the 10 to 40m bands, mostly SSB. All info on this event on can be found on QRZ.com.

ARI Fidenza and the Guglielmo Marconi Foundation are running an award scheme based major Italian pioneers and their discoveries in wireless and radio technology. Running throughout the year, each month is dedicated to a specific scientist. February is celebrating Augusto Righi. Further details can be found at www.arifidenza.it

Please send special event details to [email protected], as early as possible, for free publicity on GB2RS, in RadCom and online. Remember that UK special event stations must be open to the public, so our free publicity can help make your efforts more widely known.

Now the contest news

Today, the 3rd of February, the 432MHz AFS contest runs from 0900 to 1300UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.

On Monday the 80m Club Championships run from 2000 to 2130UTC. It’s the SSB leg and the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.

On Tuesday the 144MHz FM Activity Contest runs from 1900 to 1955UTC. Using FM only, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Running concurrently is the 144MHz Machine Generated Mode Activity Contest, which has an exchange of signal report and 4-character locator. These contests are immediately followed by the all-mode 144MHz UK Activity Contest, which runs from 2000 to 2230UTC. The exchange for this contest is also signal report, serial number and locator.

On Wednesday the UK EI Contest Club 80m contest runs from 2000 to 2100UTC. Using SSB only, the exchange is your 4-character locator.

On Saturday the 9th, the first 1.8MHz contest takes place from 1900 to 2300UTC. Using CW only, the exchange is signal report, serial number and your District.

Next weekend sees two contests. The CW WorldWide WPX RTTY contest runs for 48 hours from 0000UTC on the 9th to 2359UTC on the 10th. Using the 3.5 to 28MHz contest bands, the exchange is signal report and serial number.

The PACC Contest runs for 24 hours from 1200UTC on the 9th to 1200UTC on the 10th. Using CW and SSB on the 1.8 to 28MHz contest bands, the exchange is signal report and serial number, with PA stations sending their Province too.

Now the propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO on Friday the 1st of February.

Last week was a mixed bag in terms of HF propagation. The solar flux index was a little higher at 74, helped by a sunspot group that has now rotated out of view. Geomagnetic conditions were very settled in the first half of the week with the Kp index often sitting at zero. It seems quite a while since the index was this low.

But that couldn’t last as a very large elongated coronal hole on the Sun’s equator threatened the Earth with an enhanced solar wind. This eventually came to fruition on Thursday afternoon, pushing the Kp index to three at first and then five overnight, bringing minor G1 geomagnetic storming at higher latitudes. At the time of writing this looks like it is likely to bring continued unsettled HF conditions across the weekend, complete with depressed maximum useable frequencies.

NOAA predicts a solar flux index around 72 next week as the solar minimum continues. The good news is that once the effects of this coronal hole disappear we can expect more settled geomagnetic conditions and a return to seasonal averages when it comes to maximum usable frequencies.

The low bands are still at their optimum, with 160, 80 and 40m providing good propagation opportunities. Sixty metres, or the 5MHz band, is also providing inter-G and European contacts during the day, as the critical frequency is often sufficient to support propagation on the band.

Higher up, 20 metres is still the best band for reliable DX, although it tends to open late and close early at the moment, with occasional openings on 17m and perhaps even 15m.

And now the VHF and up propagation news.

It’s looking like a week to be getting on with those hardware and software projects in the warmth of the workshop while keeping an eye on the VHF DX clusters. Cold and unsettled would describe the first part of the week, with limited options for Tropo due to some wintry areas of low pressure. There are signs of a weak ridge of high pressure to the south of Britain at the start of the week, but this offers only marginal chances for paths to the south from southern England into the continent and Spain.

With the solar conditions, the weekend is looking likely to offer some chances of aurora due to the large coronal hole, so even if Tropo is not a strong contender, there are still some possible interests for VHF ops. For GHz bands enthusiasts, the snow showers early on may provide some rain scatter.

The Moon is at apogee on Tuesday and declination is negative, but rising all week. Moon windows will lengthen as the week progresses, but path losses will be at their highest.

One minor meteor shower occurs on the 8th, the Alpha Centaurids, but with a Zenithal Houry Rate of just six it’s not really a significant one for meteor scatter operation.

And that’s all from the propagation team this week.

GB2RS NEWS

Sunday 27th January 2019

 

The news headlines:

Three new bands for Indonesians

Listen to an ISS contact

Become an RSGB Board member or Regional Representative

 

The Indonesian national society, ORARI, reports new amateur radio regulations have been issued with top class licensees gaining new WRC-15 Secondary allocations at 136kHz, 472kHz and 5MHz.

An International Space Station school contact has been planned between David St-Jacques, KG5FYI and a school in Portugal. The event is scheduled for Saturday the 2nd of February at approximately 1523UTC. The conversation will be conducted in English and will be a direct contact operated by CS5SS. The downlink signals will be audible in many parts of Europe on 145.800MHz FM.

There is just under one week left for RSGB Members to make nominations for the Board and Regional Representative vacancies. These roles offer a great opportunity to help the RSGB develop and to promote amateur radio. For more details see tinyurl.com/GB2RS-0113A and please note that nominations close on the 31st of January.

Bulgarian amateurs have obtained some important changes to their licence. The age limit has been removed for getting a Class 2 licence, which permits up to 5W on VHF and UHF, plus HF on a club station. A Class A licence for all bands will full legal power can now be obtained at 14 years of age. The mandatory six month period between the Class 2 and Class 1 exams has also been removed and there has been a significant increase in the power allowed on most bands.

Ian Suart, GM4AUP has been appointed as the RSGB’s first Operating Advisory Service Coordinator. The Operating Advisory Service, OAS, has been established to help amateurs in various ways, especially those whose enjoyment is being hindered by the poor activities of others. These include giving practical guidance to individual Members, delivering talks to clubs, and sharing their own OAS experiences with the national OAS team. Working with him is a growing team of Regional Operating Advisors. The aim is to have at least one Advisor in every Region, assisting the Region’s volunteer team with OAS’s developing expertise. Please encourage any suitable candidate in your Region to apply for the Regional Operating Advisor role, by contacting Ian via email to [email protected]

The Inter-MAI amateur radio slow scan television experiment on the International Space Station is scheduled to be activated between Wednesday the 30th of January and Friday the 1st of February. It appears that the experiment will only be active during a couple of orbits that overfly Moscow, rather than a continuous operation. Expected periods of activation appear to be between 1300 and 1900UTC, and should occur on the traditional 145.800MHz downlink frequency.

And now for the details of rallies and events for the coming week

The Horncastle Amateur Radio and Electronics rally takes place today, the 27th of January, at the Horncastle Youth Centre, Cagthorpe Buildings, Willow Row, Horncastle LN9 6DZ. Doors open at 10am and entry is £2. Traders tables are £5 per 6ft table. There is free parking at the venue. The usual traders will be there and catering is available on site. Details from Tony, G3PZU, 01507 527 835, or by email to [email protected].

On the 3rd of February, the 35th SEARS Canvey Radio & Electronics Rally will be held at its new venue, Cornelius Vermuyden School, Dinant Avenue, Canvey Island, Essex SS8 9QS. Admission is £3 and doors open at 10am, or fifteen minutes earlier for disabled visitors. There is free car parking and easy, level ground floor access to two large halls. Tea, coffee, soft drinks and bacon butties will be available. There will be radio, computing and electronics traders and special interest groups. More details via email to [email protected].

To get your event into RadCom, onto GB2RS and on the RSGB website, please send details as early as possible to [email protected] – we need to know about four months in advance for RadCom.

And now the DX news from 425 DX News and other sources

Art, NN7A will be active as V31JZ/P from South Water Caye in Belize, IOTA reference NA-180, from the 31st of January to the 6th of February. He will operate mainly CW on the 80 to 10m bands. QSL via Club Log’s OQRS or via NN7A either direct or via the bureau.

Mike, OE3MBG will be on the air as S79AA in the Seychelles, AF-024, until the 2nd of February. QSLs are via Club Log OQRS and logs will be uploaded to Logbook of The World.

Heli, DD0VR will be active as C6A/DD0VR from the Bahamas, NA-001, and possibly other island groups as well until the 2nd of February. Usually he operates QRP on the 80 to 10m bands using CW and SSB. QSL via DD0VR, direct or bureau.

Rick, NE8Z will be active from Ecuador until the 6th of February. He will operate CW, SSB and FT8 on the 40 to 6m bands. Listen for HC1MD, HC1MD/HC2 and HC1MD/HC7 depending on his location. QSL via Logbook of The World, or direct to K8LJG.

HI1LT will be manned by members of the Loma del Toro DX Club until the 28th of January and will be located on Beata Island, NA-122, off the coast of the Dominican Republic. QSL manager is W2CCW.

Emmanuel, F5LIT will be active as YB9/F5LIT from Bali Island, OC-022, from the 27th of January to the 6th February. QSL via his home callsign, direct only, and Logbook of The World.

Now the special event news

The Worked All Britain group Golden Anniversary year got off to a good start with GB50WAB starting in Northern Ireland, and GB9WAB in Leicestershire. GB50WAB will continue to run throughout the year from various locations, currently being aired from North Lincolnshire, and moves on to Hereford on the 29th. Other WAB GB special calls will also be run throughout the year, in addition to regular airings of the clubs calls, G4WAB and G7WAB. The month of February will see GB8WAB, operated by MI1AIB, and GB0ABG, operated by G4IAR. Keep an eye on www.worked-all-britain.org.uk for further information.

The special call sign EI19RE will be active for the duration of 2019 to commemorate the establishment of the Dáil, the first Irish parliament.

Please send special event details to [email protected], as early as possible, for free publicity on GB2RS, in RadCom and online. Remember that UK special event stations must be open to the public, so our free publicity can help make your efforts more widely known.

Now the contest news

Ending its 48 hour run at 2200UTC today, the 27th, the CQ WorldWide 160m DX contest uses CW only. The exchange is signal report and CQ Zone, which for the UK is Zone 14. In addition US and Canadian stations send their State or Province.

Ending its 24 hour run at 1200UTC today, the 27th, is the BARTG RTTY Sprint Contest. Using RTTY on the 3.5 to 28MHz bands, the exchange is simply the serial number.

The UK EI Contest Club contest runs from 2000 to 2100UTC on Wednesday the 30th of January. Using CW only on the 80m band, the exchange is your 4-character Locator.

Next Sunday, the 3rd of February, the 432MHZ AFS contest runs from 0900 to 1300UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and Locator.

Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO on Friday the 25th of January.

This week we did get a new sunspot group, which pushed the solar flux index to 71 and the sunspot number to 18, reflecting one group with eight spots in it. But, as predicted last week, incoming matter from a solar coronal hole resulted in an elevated K index and poor HF conditions on Wednesday the 23rd. Because of this, maximum usable frequencies were depressed and struggled to reach much more than 14MHz at times. Late Wednesday afternoon even saw 40m closing early.

Despite a continued K index of four on Thursday, MUFs did manage to recover slightly and signals were heard on many HF bands. This included an opening around Europe and out as far as Israel and Cyprus on 10m FT8, which may have been due to a pre-auroral enhancement.

There were other highlights during the week. Andy, M0NKR reported working E51DWC on the South Cook Islands on 20m CW on Monday afternoon at about 5.30pm, which just goes to show you shouldn’t write the bands off.

Next week NOAA has the solar flux index remaining at 71, with generally quieter geomagnetic conditions, at least until the Thursday the 31st. This may then herald three days of unsettled conditions due to a recurrent coronal hole.

As always, don’t neglect the upper HF bands, especially at the onset of a geomagnetic storm, as these can often bring short-lived openings on the higher HF frequencies.

And now the VHF and up propagation news.

It’s shaping up to be another rather flat week for Tropo, although it’s always possible to get some limited surface ducting in the early mornings with this cold frosty weather and patchy fog. Much of the coming week is dominated by low pressure and, at times, brisk winds, which will rule out traditional Tropo options. That probably leaves, like last week, just a few chances of some rain scatter on the GHz bands. Snow however does act as a very good scatterer on these bands.

Keep a watch for the other exotic modes, like out-of-season winter Sporadic-E or some auroral QSOs. What about trying some flat condition path checks to see how your station is doing, by calibrating against a selection of beacons or repeaters, so that you have a baseline to compare against when the high pressure systems do return? Incidentally, you could even try a late New Year resolution to activate CW on the VHF/UHF bands. You never know, flat conditions can provide more than you think.

Moon declination is negative again and reaches minimum next Saturday. Moon windows will shorten as the week progresses and maximum Moon elevation will be in the early mornings, so it is a week for EME early-risers.

We are still in the doldrums as far as meteor showers go with just a couple of minor ones in February and March until the April Lyrids.

And that’s all from the propagation team this week.

GB2RS NEWS

Sunday 20th January 2019

 

The news headlines:

Showcase our hobby during British Science Week

Prepare for Thinking Day on the Air

AMSAT celebrates 50th birthday

 

British Science Week runs from the 8th to the 15th of March and is a fantastic opportunity to showcase radio communications in the 21st century to young people. The RSGB is encouraging clubs to develop relationships with their local school or community group. The theme for this year is ‘journeys’. Ideas for activities could include the journey from Marconi to Wi-Fi, or to ARISS contacts, or the journey of a radio wave from transmitter to receiver without wires. RSGB clubs are ideally placed to put on a local event. If your club already has a link with a local school, why not work with them to run an amateur radio-related event during BSW? The Radio Communications Foundation is keen to sponsor such events and can provide radio kits to build. These have already been used in primary and secondary schools with great success. More information is at https://tinyurl.com/GB2RS-0120A

Thinking Day on the Air 2019 will take place over the weekend of the 16th and 17th of February. A list of known stations is displayed on the Station List page of the website www.guides-on-the-air.co.uk There is a form on the page for stations to submit their details to be added to the list, and an IO group for exchanging details or arranging skeds. Currently, as well as UK stations, Guides and Scouts are taking part from Canada, USA, and the Netherlands. Please send in station details via the website or to [email protected]

AMSAT’s 50th anniversary will be celebrated with AMSAT-DL special event callsign DL50AMSAT. The station will be on the air from Saxony on the Czech Republic border via satellites only, and will debut this weekend. Track the event on Instagram and Twitter with the hashtag #satelliteweekend

The latest versions of the UK Band Plans have been published. RSGB Members will receive a copy within the February edition of RadCom, and the information is freely downloadable from www.rsgb.org/bandplans

Two more 2018 RSGB Convention videos are now available for Members to view on the RSGB website. Convention favourite Ian White, GM3SEK can be seen speaking about VHF baluns, where he takes a critical look at some long-established methods for feeding Yagi antennas and identifying a new list of Do’s and Don’ts for modern conditions. Ray Burlingame-Goff, G4FON discusses the pitfalls of learning Morse and the work of the German psychologist Ludwig Koch that Ray used in his freeware training software. Drawing on his own experience and over ten years of feedback by users of his software, Ray offers practical advice on how you can move from simply working stations with a 5NN TU reply to effortless casual rag chewing with them. Go to www.rsgb.org/videos for these and many others.

Looking ahead a little, The St Patrick Award is asking amateurs to come and celebrate on the air for St Patrick’s Day on the 17th of March. The award will be running over 48 hours from the 16th at 12 noon until the 18th at 12 noon to follow the worldwide celebrations. This year a new Digital Award has been added covering such modes as FT8, DMR, D-Star, JT65, Echolink etc. To claim it you must have made 20 contacts with a registered St Patrick’s Day Station. For more information go to https://stpatrickaward.webs.com.

More than 80,000 contacts went into logs at Youngsters on the Air suffix stations and others participating in December YOTA month, with most operations in IARU Region 1. The final tally included 46,989 on SSB, another 28,064 on CW, some 3,814 on FT8, and the rest on various other modes. This year, as many as 44 participating stations made 82,938 QSOs in December. You will be able to read about events in the UK in the March RadCom. A full report can be read at www.iaru-r1.org/

There are a number of vintage radio and amateur radio related eBooks available for free download on the Project Gutenberg site. Among them is Letters of a Radio Engineer to his Son by John Mills. Written in 1922, in his letters the author teaches all about radio-telephony with simple explanations and “contain only what is important in the radio of to-day and those ideas which seem necessary if you are to follow the rapid advances which radio is making.” For details see www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=radio

And now for the details of rallies and events for the coming week

The Horncastle Amateur Radio and Electronics rally is on the 27th of January. It takes place at the Horncastle Youth Centre, Cagthorpe Buildings, Willow Row, Harncastle LN9 6DZ. Doors open at 10am and entry is £2. Traders tables are £5 per 6ft table. There is free parking at the venue. The usual traders will be there and catering is available onsite. Details from Tony, G3PZU, 01507 527 835, or by email to [email protected].

To get your event into RadCom, onto GB2RS and on the RSGB website, please send details as early as possible to [email protected] – we need to know about four months in advance for RadCom.

And now the DX news from 425 DX News and other sources

KB8YRX will be active as 8P9CA from Barbados, IOTA reference NA-021, until the 4th of February. He will operate mainly FT8 on the 20m band. QSL via Logbook of The World or via his home callsign.

Saty, JE1JKL will be on the air as 9M6NA from Labuan Island, OC-133, East Malaysia between the 24th and 28th of January. Main activity will be on the 160m band, including participation in the CQ WW CW 160m Contest. QSL via Logbook of The World and Club Log’s OQRS.

Tino, HI3CC and a group from the Loma del Toro DX Club will be active as HI1LT from Isla Beata, NA-122, between the 20th and 28th of January. They will operate CW, SSB and digital modes. QSL via W2CCW.

Mat, DL4MM will be on the air as P4/DL4MM from Aruba, SA-036, between the 22nd and 30th of January. He will operate CW, SSB and FT8 with a focus on the low bands and pay special attention to Europe and Asia. He will participate in the CQ WW 160m CW Contest as P40AA. QSLs via Club Log’s OQRS is preferred or via DL4MM.

Nobu, JA0JHQ will be active as T88PB from Koror, OC-009, Palau between the 25th and 28th of January. He will focus on 160m CW, including participation in the CQ WW 160m Contest. QSL via Logbook of the World, preferred, or direct to JA0JHQ.

Now the special event news

Worthing & District ARC will be running a special event station to commemorate its 70th anniversary this weekend using callsign GB5WOR. The station will be on the air on all HF bands, plus possibly 2m and 70cm. Further details from the club website, www.wadarc.org.uk

Please send special event details to [email protected], as early as possible, for free publicity on GB2RS, in RadCom and online. Remember that UK special event stations must be open to the public, so our free publicity can help make your efforts more widely known.

Now the contest news

On Tuesday the SHF UK Activity Contest runs from 1930 to 2230UTC. Using all modes on the 2.3 to 10GHz bands the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.

Next weekend from 2200UTC on the 25th to 2200UTC on the 27th, the CQ WorldWide 160m DX contest takes place. Using CW only the exchange is signal report and CQ Zone, which for the UK is Zone 14. In addition US and Canadian stations send their State or Province.

Also next weekend, from 1200UTC on the 26th to 1200UTC on the 27th, the BARTG RTTY Sprint Contest will be held. Using RTTY on the 3.5 to 28MHz bands the exchange is simply the serial number.

The UK Six Metre Group Marathon continues until the 31st of January. Using all modes on the 50MHz band, the exchange is signal report and locator.

Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO on Friday the 18th of January.

At the risk of sounding like a stuck record, the Sun remained spotless this past week with a solar flux index stuck firmly around the 70 mark. Geomagnetic conditions were mostly settled with a maximum planetary K index of four, although on average it was usually much lower than this, around one or two.

Many are bemoaning the poor HF conditions and it is not surprising. Although there are openings up to 21MHz at times, the 20 metre band is more likely to bring you reliable DX contacts than the higher bands. We can’t expect to see much action on 12 and 10 metres until the Sporadic-E season starts in early May.

The lower bands are still throwing up some surprises though and transatlantic contacts on 160m are still worth chasing if you are equipped for Top Band. Eighty, 40 and perhaps even 30 metres may also bring you some DX during darkness. As always, we encourage you to use the online tools at predtest.uk and propquest.co.uk to plan your activity.

Next week, NOAA predicts more of the same with a spotless sun and a solar flux index of around 71. Geomagnetic conditions should remain quiet, until the 24th and 25th when material from a recurrent solar hole may push the Kp index to five, bringing the potential for aurora-like conditions and depressed maximum usable frequencies.

And now the VHF and up propagation news.

There is unlikely to be much Tropo this week. A key feature of the weather is an area of low pressure which drifts southeast across the country from Greenland on Sunday to Iceland, then Scotland, and arriving over England by Wednesday. Looking at its origin, it will herald a spell of cold weather with a taste of winter for some areas. This may provide wintry showers in some places to give a chance of rain scatter on the GHz bands, but it’s not a great opportunity.

That leaves the last part of the week to consider, after the cold winter low has moved away into the continent. Models suggest a return of a ridge of high pressure, some models stronger than others. But it will be building in dry cold air, which is not good for creating a strong moisture contrast across the temperature inversion and thus not a great signal for Tropo.

So overall, probably a flat feel to the week regarding VHF/UHF weather propagation, but with the Eshailsat-2 geostationary transponder undergoing engineering tests as we write I’m sure many will be focussed on this.

The Moon reached maximum declination this morning and perigee is tomorrow, so it’s a good week for EME.

And that’s all from the propagation team this week.

GB2RS NEWS

Sunday 13th January 2019

 

The news headlines:

Volunteers invited for National Radio Centre

IARU Region 1 consolidates project groups

RSGB Board and Regional Representative nominations open

 

With over 55,000 visitors to the RSGB’s National Radio Centre at Bletchley Park in 2018, we are looking to recruit new volunteers to engage with the public and give radio demonstrations. If you’re interested in becoming an NRC volunteer you should be passionate about meeting people, feel confident explaining the hobby, as well as operating the NRC’s radio station, GB3RS. You should be a licensed amateur, an RSGB Member and be prepared to work a minimum of one (preferably two) days per month. You will be joining a team of enthusiastic, friendly and dedicated volunteers and full training will be given. Travel expenses are paid to volunteers living within reasonable travelling distance and NRC volunteers enjoy numerous benefits associated with volunteering at Bletchley Park. Please email [email protected] for further information.

At the IARU Region 1 General Conference in Landshut in 2017, it was agreed to create three project groups to address issues of the future direction and growth in amateur radio across the Region. These groups have undertaken some of the planned work, but because of other commitments of the project leaders, progress has not been as rapid as the IARU Region 1 had hoped. It was decided to bring the three project groups together under a single project manager. Mark Jones, G0MGX, has agreed to take this role. Mark is already deeply involved in ‘future and growth’ issues in RSGB, where he is a Board Member. Mark can be contacted via email to [email protected]. We wish Mark every success in this key role.

RSGB Members are reminded that nominations are open for RSGB Board and Regional Representatives. Details are in the January RadCom and on the RSGB website via tinyurl.com/GB2RS-0113A. These roles offer a good opportunity to help the RSGB develop and to promote amateur radio. Nominations close on the 31st of January.

In America, the FCC is not processing any US amateur radio applications as the partial government shutdown approaches its fourth week. For radio amateurs, the shutdown means that while the Universal Licensing System continues to accept applications for all valid purposes, the FCC will not review or act upon them until the funding stalemate is resolved. Newcomers who have passed the required examinations will have to wait until the shutdown concludes to receive a callsign and authorisation to operate. License upgrades are also on hold.

Please note that the RSGB National Radio Centre at Bletchley Park will be closed for a private event on Tuesday the 15th of January. Outside of this, volunteers look forward to welcoming visitors seven days a week, especially RSGB Members, who can download a free entry voucher for Bletchley Park from the RSGB website.

On the 27th of December a Soyuz launch deployed two German satellites, D-Star ONE – Sparrow and D-Star ONE – iSat. The beacons have been successfully received from both satellites, which each carry a D-Star repeater. They uplink on 437.325MHz and downlink on 435.525MHz. The December Soyuz flight also deployed the UWE-4 1U CubeSat carrying a 70cm AX.25 digipeater, with an uplink/downlink frequency of 437.375MHz. AMSAT Germany has reported that in-orbit testing of the P4-A amateur radio transponders on Es’hail-2 has begun but amateurs should not attempt to transmit on the Es’hail-2 uplink. When all in-orbit testing has been successfully completed, the satellite will be moved to its final orbital position at 26° East and availability announcements will be made.

Club Log’s latest Most Wanted List, generated on the 28th of December, can be found at https://secure.clublog.org/mostwanted.php. The information is derived from the half-billion or so QSOs uploaded to Club Log and available for analysis. To improve quality, only QSOs that have QSLs confirmed are considered to be worked. The most wanted charts are rebuilt once per month, on average.

And now for the details of rallies and events for the coming week

The next rally in the diary is on the Horncastle Amateur Radio and Electronics rally on the 27th of January. It takes place at the Horncastle Youth Centre, Cagthorpe Buildings, Willow Row, Harncastle LN9 6DZ. Doors open at 10am.

Advance notice now of the CW Boot Camp, which will be run by the GMDX Group. It takes place on Sunday the 10th of March at Stirling & District ARS, Unit 68, Bandeath Industrial Estate, Throsk FK7 7NP. This event is open to all however places are limited, so it is important that you pre-register your interest by email to [email protected].

To get your event into RadCom, onto GB2RS and on the RSGB website, please send details as early as possible to [email protected] – we need to know about four months in advance for RadCom.

And now the DX news from 425 DX News and other sources

A group of operators will be active as H33J from Volcan in the Chiriqui Province of Panama, between the 13th and the 31st of January. They will operate CW, SSB, RTTY and FT8 on the 160 to 10m bands, with a focus on the low bands FT8. QSL via Logbook of The World, Club Log’s OQRS or via JA1HGY.

Jean-Pierre, F6ITD will be active as FG/F6ITD from La Desirade Island, IOTA NA-102, in Guadeloupe from the 14th of January to the 13th of March. Activity will be on the 80 to 6m bands using CW, SSB and various digital modes. He will also be active as TO7D in various contests. QSL direct to his home call.

Willy, KB8YRX will be on the air as 8P9CA from Barbados between the 15th of January and the 4th of February. Activity will be focused on 20m and FT8. QSL to his home call.

Gerhard, OE3GEA will be on the air as HC8GET from Santa Cruz, Isabela, and San Cristobal Island in the Galapagos Islands from the 13th to the 25th of January. Activity will be on the HF bands. QSL to his home callsign.

Now the special event news

Worthing & District ARC will be running a special event station to commemorate its 70th anniversary. This will be on the weekend of the 19th and 20th of January, using callsign GB5WOR. The station will be on the air on all HF bands, possibly 2m and 70cm. Further details from the club website, www.wadarc.org.uk

Celebrating its 50th anniversary, Sweden's National Society for the Active Visually Impaired will be active as SF50CG throughout 2019. QSL via SM0BYD.

Please send special event details to [email protected], as early as possible, for free publicity on GB2RS, in RadCom and online. Remember that UK special event stations must be open to the public, so our free publicity can help make your efforts more widely known.

Now the contest news

Today, the 13th, the Datamodes AFS contest runs from 1300 to 1700UTC. Using data only on the 3.5 and 7MHz bands, the exchange is signal report and serial number.

On Tuesday the 1.3GHz UK Activity Contest runs from 2000 to 2230UTC. Thursday sees the 70MHz UK Activity Contest, also from 2000 to 2230UTC. Both use all modes on the respective band and the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.

On Saturday the 19th the SSB AFS contest runs from 1300 to 1700UTC. Using the 3.5 and 7MHz bands only, the exchange is signal report and serial number.

Also on Saturday the 19th, the Worked All Britain 1.8MHz Phone contest runs from 1900 to 2300UTC. The exchange is signal report, serial number and the WAB square.

The UK Six Metre Group Marathon continues until the 31st of January. Using all modes on the 50MHz band, the exchange is signal report and locator.

Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO on Friday the 9th of January.

This week saw relatively-settled HF conditions after the effects of a geomagnetic storm that impacted Earth at the weekend had passed. The Kp index was mostly around one or two thanks to a reduced solar wind. A small solar coronal hole did become Earth-facing on Wednesday the 9th, but its effects, if any, won’t be felt until around Friday the 11th. The sun’s disk remained spotless, with the solar flux index around 71-72.

The Propquest.co.uk site shows that daytime critical frequencies remain around 3.5-5MHz, although there have been some high spots where it has hit more than 6MHz. These can spark short-term long-range HF propagation at maximum usable frequencies of more than 18MHz, so it is worth keeping an eye on the higher bands. Otherwise, the upper bands have been fairly lacklustre with mostly contacts around Europe, as can be expected at this point in the sunspot cycle.

Next week NOAA has the solar flux remaining around 70 with settled geomagnetic conditions, other than around the 16th when the K index may rise to four due to recurrent coronal hole activity.

A check with the new animation facility at predtest.uk shows that the upper HF bands currently favour one-hop contacts into Southern Europe with occasional openings to North Africa. Forty metres should be open to Europe both day and night with the possibility of some weaker longer paths opening up around sunset and after dark.

Eighty metres remains a good evening and night-time band, but make the most of it now as the nights are starting to get shorter.

And now the VHF and up propagation news.

The weekend started with a residual high pressure area, by now displaced to the southwest of Britain. This means that the bulk of the country is under a weaker ridge. This will obviously favour the western side of the country, which is closest to the high, for any Tropo activity.

As the week progresses, the high weakens further and the pattern becomes more like a showery north-westerly with little chance of Tropo and rather more breeze, especially over the north and down the eastern side of the country. This type of weather can produce an opportunity for rain scatter on the Gigahertz bands as big reflective shower clouds drift past the coasts.

We are in the quiet period of the year for meteor activity with few major showers until April. There are, though, always opportunities for random meteor scatter contacts peaking around dawn when the earth is rotating towards the main orbital flux of meteoric particles.

Lunar declination is positive again, so moon windows will lengthen as the week progresses, and path losses will fall. Early in the week, moonrise will be around lunchtime, and getting later over the coming week.

And that’s all from the propagation team this week.

We're back !! (after our 1 edition pause).

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL SUBSCRIBERS FROM THE GB2RS PODCAST TEAM.

 

GB2RS NEWS

Sunday 6th January 2019

 

The news headlines:

Happy New Year

Italian wireless pioneers award scheme

Download the latest 5MHz Newsletter

 

The news team and all the staff at RSGB HQ would like to wish our newsreaders, listeners and online readers a very Happy New Year. We would like to remind everyone that we always welcome your news, by email to [email protected], and the deadline is 10am sharp on Thursday mornings. The GB2RS script is uploaded to the RSGB website by 4.30pm each Friday afternoon.

ARI Fidenza and the Guglielmo Marconi Foundation has announced an award scheme based major Italian pioneers in wireless and radio technology, or the main artifices of those fundamental discoveries and practical achievements that have made possible the birth of wireless communications and subsequent progress in radio technology. Running from the 1st of January to the 31st of December 2019, twelve commemorative radio stations with special callsigns will alternate throughout the year. Each month is dedicated to a specific scientist. Further details can be found at www.arifidenza.it

The latest edition of The 5MHz Newsletter is now available for free pdf download from the RSGB 5MHz page at tinyurl.com/GB2RS-0106A This edition includes 5MHz news from 10 countries, features the latest number of CEPT countries on 5MHz, Exercise Blue Ham 100 and an article on Taking Care on 5357.

The RSGB’s National Radio Centre at Bletchley Park welcomed 55,232 people through the doors in 2018, introducing the vast majority of them to amateur radio for the first time. Well done to Martyn, G0GMB and his team of volunteers who keep the NRC running. Please note that the NRC will be closed for a private event on Tuesday the 15th of January. Outside of this, volunteers look forward to welcoming visitors seven days a week, especially RSGB Members, who can download a free entry voucher for Bletchley Park from the RSGB website.

The final Advanced training course in Bath starts on Wednesday 30 January 2019. The course will run on Wednesday evenings at the Scout HQ in Grove Street, Bath, aiming for an exam in July. This will be the last amateur radio course in Bath for some time due to the work required to implement the changes to the syllabus. The Bath team expect to be closed down for at least 6 months, maybe a year. The final Bath Based Distance Learning course, which will run in parallel with the classroom course, is now full and has a record number of students. If anyone is looking to upgrade from Intermediate to Full, and can attend classes in Bath, please drop an email to the course leader, Steve Hartley, via [email protected]

The RSGB is pleased to announce that Bobby Wadey, MI0RYL has been appointed to the position of RSGB Awards Manager, taking over from Chris Burbanks, G3SJJ. The Society would like to thank Chris for his work as the RSGB Awards Manager.

RSGB Members are reminded that nominations are open for RSGB Board and Regional Representatives. Details are in the January RadCom and at https://tinyurl.com/GB2RS-0106B These roles offer a good opportunity to help the RSGB develop and to promote amateur radio. Nominations close on the 31st of January 2019.

Until the 14th of January, 8,400 Scouts from every Australian state – plus representatives from 18 nations – will converge in South Australia to participate in the 25th Australian Scout Jamboree. One of the 150 activities on offer to the Scouts will be a chance to participate in amateur radio using VI25AJ and a Direction Finding course. About 2000 Scouts are expected to experience amateur radio over the 10 day period. They will be active on the HF bands both SSB and digital modes, Satellites, IRLP and Echolink. Full details such as operating schedules and frequencies will be available via the VI25AJ QRZ.com page. If you hear the callsign on the air, give the youngsters a call.

And now for the details of rallies and events for the coming week

We know of no rallies happening in January.

To get your event into RadCom, onto GB2RS and on the RSGB website, please send details as early as possible to [email protected] – we need to know about four months in advance for RadCom.

And now the DX news from 425 DX News and other sources

Rich, PA0RRS is on the air as 9M2MRS from Penang Island, IOTA reference AS-015, until the 15th of February. Activity is on the HF bands using CW, RTTY, PSK and FT8. QSL to his home callsign.

Mike, OE6MBG is operating as S79AA from Mahe, AF-024, until the 2nd of February. Activity is on the 160 to 10m bands, plus 6m as conditions permit, using CW and SSB. QSL via Logbook of The World.

Antoine, 3D2AG is on the air as T2AR from Funafuti until the 31st of January. Activity is on the HF bands, including 160m. QSL to his home callsign. In addition, Apinelu, T2AT is operating on the HF bands using FT8. QSL via N7SMI.

Bernie, W3UR and Becky, N3OSH will be on the air as V47UR from Calypso Bay, St Kitts Island, NA-104, from the 8th to the 20th of January. Activity will be holiday style on the 160 to 6m bands using CW and SSB. QSL via Logbook of The World.

Now the special event news

GB2KW is on the air at various times near Inverness until the 28th of January using vintage KW gear. QSL via Logbook of The World.

Please send event details to [email protected], as early as possible, for free publicity on GB2RS, in RadCom and online. Remember that UK special event stations must be open to the public, so our free publicity can help make your efforts more widely known.

Now the contest news

On Tuesday the 432MHz FM Activity Contest runs from 1900 to 1955UTC, using FM only. It is immediately followed by the all-mode 432MHz UK Activity Contest from 2000 to 2230UTC. The exchange for both contests is signal report, serial number and locator.

On Thursday the new 50MHz MGM Contest runs from 1900 to 1955UTC, using machine generated modes only. It is immediately followed by the all-mode 50MHz UK Activity Contest from 2000 to 2230UTC. The exchange for both contests is signal report, serial number and locator.

Next Sunday, the 13th, the Datamodes AFS contest runs from 1300 to 1700UTC. Using data only on the 3.5 and 7MHz bands, the exchange is signal report and serial number.

The UK Six Metre Group Marathon continues this month until the 31st of January. Using all modes on the 50MHz band, the exchange is signal report and locator.

Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO on Friday the 4th of January.

A new sunspot appeared this week, although it belongs to outgoing cycle 24 and is therefore not a sign that the new cycle 25 is under way just yet. We may still have to wait until at least the autumn before that happens. Despite pushing the solar flux index up to 75 on Thursday we are still very much in the mid-winter doldrums, with bands opening late and closing early. Having said that, there have been reports of some early afternoon 17m transatlantic CW openings to the USA. 20m and 40m have often closed early, but it is worth checking both bands after dark – there has been some activity spotted on 40m around 11pm so it is worth looking.

A large solar coronal hole became Earth-facing on Thursday, which may cause some disruption to the bands at the weekend, potentially pushing the K index to four with depressed maximum useful frequencies. Once its effects have passed we should see more settled bands, with a maximum K index of two next week and a solar flux index of around 71.

Daytime critical frequencies are currently reaching a maximum of about 4.9MHz, meaning 80m remains the best band for daytime NVIS or close-in signals. Sixty metres or 5MHz may also be fine for inter-G signals, although you may struggle on 60 metres at times with stations closer than about 100km.

Over longer distances, 20 metres remains favourite, with possible occasional openings on 17m. Winter Sporadic-E may throw up some surprising openings on 12 and 10 metres, but these may be fleeting and hard to predict.

And now the VHF and up propagation news.

There is still a large area of high pressure on the charts, and as is typical of such features they can be very persistent. This one is going for the ‘long game’ with another one to two weeks of high pressure weather to come. This means that Tropo will be the mode of choice, with variations mostly down to how moist the air near the surface is compared with the very dry air just above the temperature inversion. A big contrast in moisture means better ducting on VHF and UHF and the best sign of this is when you find mist and fog forming – bad for travelling but better for Tropo.

The position of the high is crucial and when we find a cold northerly flow pattern with the high just to the west, this tends to reduce the prospects for good Tropo, despite the pressure being fairly high; so expect variations in the scope and intensity of the openings as the high centre drifts around the UK.

Out of season Sporadic-E is always worth checking for during the depths of winter, especially with the big changes in the wind regime in the stratosphere at the moment.

The short and intense Quadrantids meteor shower last week usually ushers in a quiet period of meteor activity until early April so keep looking for the usual dawn enhancement of random meteors.

The Moon reached its lowest declination yesterday and apogee on Wednesday, so there are short moon windows with low elevations and high losses this week.

And that’s all from the propagation team this week.

GB2RS NEWS

Sunday 23rd December 2018

The news headlines:

Final GB2RS of the year

Last chances to work GB18YOTA

Worked All Britain turns 50

 

This is the final GB2RS news reading for 2018 and we start with seasonal greetings to all newsreaders and listeners, both over the air and via the internet recordings, and not forgetting viewers of the ATV broadcast, which is available via several repeaters and kindly streamed via the BATC.TV website, as well as those that get this news via TX Factor or podcasts. We would like to take this opportunity to once again thank all those that read the news, in whatever format, for their tireless dedication to their fellow amateurs. There will be no formal news reading on the 30th of December. Normal broadcasts will resume on Sunday the 6th of January.

Youngsters on the Air month, or YOTA, runs throughout December. Jamie, M0SDV will operate the station on the 28th and 29th of December. On the 30th it’s the turn of Telford & District ARS from the 2nd Wellington Scout HQ. If you hear these stations and others around the world taking part in YOTA month, please take the time to contact the young people involved.

2019 marks the 50th Anniversary of the Worked All Britain Awards Group. To mark the occasion, three new awards will be introduced for 2019 only. In conjunction with the new awards, GB50WAB will run throughout the year, along with a number of other regional special event stations. This commences on the 1st of January, with GB50WAB for two weeks from C62 in Northern Ireland, and GB9WAB for four weeks from SK51 in Leicestershire. For more information, keep an eye on www.worked-all-britain.org.uk

You can now read online the responses from the RSGB and other interested groups and individual amateurs to Ofcom’s Consultation, UK preparations for the World Radiocommunication Conference 2019. Go to https://tinyurl.com/y8pcax46 for details.

As mentioned last week, Sweden’s Alexanderson alternator station SAQ is planning a Christmas Eve transmission on 17.2kHz. Tuning-up will start around 0730UTC and a message will be transmitted at 0800UTC. The event will be streamed live on the Alexanderson YouTube channel. Two amateur radio stations calling SK6SAQ will be active on the 24th on 7.035 and 14.035MHz CW, and 3.755MHz SSB.

Two more 2018 RSGB Convention videos are now available to Members on the RSGB website. Popular Convention speaker Jim Bacon, G3YLA deliver his talk on Sporadic-E revisited – is it any clearer? Roger Balister, G3KMA speaks about Islands on the Air matters, with the announcement of the new IOTA groups and the untold IOTA story. Go to the RSGB website at www.rsgb.org/videos for these and many more.

The RSGB National Radio Centre at Bletchley Park will be closed on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day. It will also be closed for a private event on Tuesday the 15th of January. Outside of these times, volunteers look forward to welcoming visitors seven days a week, especially RSGB Members who can download a free entry voucher for Bletchley Park from the RSGB website.

RSGB HQ is closed for the Christmas and New Year period from 4.30pm on Friday the 21st of December. It opens again at 8.30am on Wednesday the 2nd of January. In the meantime, if you need information about amateur radio, exams or RadCom you’ll find lots of information on the RSGB website, www.rsgb.org

The IARU has announced the next annual Youngsters On The Air summer camp, which will take place in Bulgaria, close to the capital city, Sofia. The Bulgarian Federation of Radioamateurs will be hosting the event. The RSGB plan to send a team to the event and applications for the UK team leader and team members will be invited in due course.

Worked all Postcodes is an award scheme announced by radio dealer Moonraker. Participants need to work as many postcodes as possible using a maximum of 10W, any mode, on the 70, 144, 430 and 1296MHz bands. Wednesday will be activity night and awards will be available for different numbers of postcodes. This all starts on the 2nd of January 2019 so keep an eye on the Moonraker blog for more information.

And now for the details of rallies and events for the coming week

On the 28th of December the Yeovil ARC Table-Top Rally will take place in Sparkford Village Hall, Church Road, Sparkford BA22 7JN. There’s off road parking and entry is £2. Doors are open from 10am to 3pm. Light refreshments will be available on the day. More from Bob Harris, G8UED, on 01963 440167.

Should you happen to be in India at the end of the year, Hamfest India runs on the 29th and 30th of December in association with REVA University, Bangalore. It’s the largest gathering and festival of amateur radio operators in India. For details, see www.hamfestindia2018.com.

To get your event into RadCom, onto GB2RS and on the RSGB website, please send details as early as possible to [email protected] – we need to know about four months in advance for RadCom.

And now the DX news from 425 DX News and other sources

Between the 25th and the 29th of December, 4X19HNY will transmit from Jerusalem, 4X2XMAS from Capernaum, 4X3XMAS from Caesarea and 4X9XMAS from Latrun. QSL via Logbook of The World and eQSL only.

Chie, 7L3PFH will be active as KH0TG from Tinian, Mariana Islands, OC-086, from the 26th of December to the 1st of January. She will operate CW and SSB on the 160 to 20m bands. QSL direct to JL1UTS.

Look for JI3DST/6, JS6RRR/6 and JL3YWN/6, operating from Tanega Island, IOTA reference AS-032, from the 26th of December to the 7th of January. Activity will be on the 80 to 6m bands using SSB, CW, RTTY, FT8 and FM. QSL via Club Log’s OQRS.

Now the special event news

The Canadian National Parks & Historic Sites on the Air scheme launches on 1st January 2019. Visit www.cnpota.ca for details of activations and how to participate.

Please send event details to [email protected], as early as possible, for free publicity on GB2RS, in RadCom and online. UK special event stations must be open to the public, so our free publicity can help make your efforts more widely known.

Now the contest news

A large number of contests and activity parties take place over the next two weeks. Details here will be brief and those taking part should check the rules for details.

The UK Six Metre Group Winter Marathon runs until the 31st of January using all modes on the 50MHz band.

Between the 26th and 29th of December the Christmas Cumulatives takes place on the 50 to 432MHz bands.

The DARC Christmas Contest runs from 0830 to 1100UTC on the 26th using CW and SSB on 3.5 to 7MHz.

The Worked All Britain Christmas Party runs from the 26th of December to the 6th of January using all modes on all bands.

Between 1500UTC on the 29th and 1500UTC on the 30th the Stew Perry Top Band Challenge uses CW only.

New Year’s Day sees several contests. The 144MHz FM AC runs from 1900 to 1955UTC; the 144MHz Machine Generated Morse contest runs at the same time. The 144MHz UK AC follows at 2000 to 2230UTC.

Also on the 1st, the IRTS 80m Counties contest runs from 1500 to 1700UTC, using SSB and CW.

The UKEICC 80m SSB contest is on the 2nd of January from 2000 to 2100UTC.

The ARRL RTTY Roundup starts at 1800UTC on the 5th and runs until 2359UTC on the 6th of January. It’s data only on the 3.5 to 28MHz bands.

The RSGB’s CW AFS contest runs from 1300 to 1700UTC on the 5th, using just the 3.5 and 7MHz bands.

The EUCW 160m CW Party runs from 2000 to 2300UTC on the 5th.

Finally, the EUCW 160m CW Party has its second session from 0400 to 0700UTC on the 6th of January.

Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO on Friday the 21st of December.

As this report has to take you up until Sunday the 6th of January 2019 we can’t guarantee complete accuracy, but we’ll try to predict conditions for the Christmas period.

The solar flux index is pretty easy as it looks like it will remain at or near sunspot minimum-like conditions. The SFI will be in the range 69-72 with no real surprises. Geomagnetic conditions will in general be settled although NOAA predicts an elevated K index due to coronal holes around the 29th and 30th, and again on the 3rd to the 6th.

We may expect some winter Sporadic-E, with reports of 10m short-skip openings to Europe being received already. Otherwise, this is the time for low-band openings, with the winter solstice giving us the long, dark nights that favour 160 and 80m propagation. Forty metres can also often throw up some choice DX, especially in the late afternoon.

We’ve just heard that OF9X is on from Finland again over Christmas, featuring three operators aged 18 or under. According to www.predtest.uk, 20 and 30m may be optimum for a contact during the day, moving to 80m at night.

And finally, a reminder that Santa Claus and his ham radio elves are on from Romania and are fielding the largest team of activators in all the districts of YO. All you have to do is contact at least three different YP-XMAS callsigns and they will be able to issue an electronic award directly from Santa Claus. HF propagation to Romania is optimum on 20 metres during the day, but falls back at night. 40 metres, or more likely 80 metres will be the best bands for contacts after dark.

And now the VHF and up propagation news.

It looks like Tropo for Christmas, all because of a large high that will develop over the country from Christmas Eve onwards. This will bring a temperature inversion, which is good for Tropo, and it will cover a large part of the UK and continent. The temperature inversion changes the refractive index of the air over a short vertical distance and leads to a duct forming that can cause signals to travel long distances with low degradation in signal strength. Unlike Sporadic-E, which is a rapid transient propagation mode, Tropo is capable of providing long-lasting openings. So if Santa has brought you a new VHF/UHF radio for Christmas you could be in for a double treat with lots of activity to add those new squares into the log book.

The short but intense Quadrantids meteor shower peaks around 0200hrs on the 4th of January so you’ll need to be a night owl to hit the peak zenithal hourly rate of 80.

The Moon reaches maximum declination today and perigee on Monday so it is a good week for EME.

As a matter of interest, there is talk of a possible Sudden Stratospheric Warming event later this month when the winds in the stratosphere change dramatically over a day or so. This can lead to colder weather about two weeks later. Additionally, this change in the wind regime in the stratosphere may become part of an out-of-season pattern, which can favour winter Sporadic-E. It’s always worth a check over the Christmas and New Year period for short skip on 10m and 6m openings.

And that’s all from the propagation team this year.

GB2RS NEWS

Sunday 16th December 2018

The news headlines:

Kenilworth pupils speak to astronaut

SAQ to transmit on Christmas Eve

Call in to YOTA stations

 

Pupils at Kenilworth School in Warwickshire conversed with astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor aboard the ISS on Friday afternoon. The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station contact was facilitated by the ARISS volunteers and streamed live via the internet. Ten children asked around twenty probing questions, and we learned things like what the outside of the ISS smells like. Amateurs around the country were listening in to transmissions direct from the spacecraft and many posted their experiences to social media, both during and immediately after the contact.

Sweden’s Alexanderson alternator station SAQ has planned a Christmas Eve transmission on 17.2kHz. The transmitter will be tuned up starting at around 0730UTC, and a message will be transmitted at 0800UTC. The 200kW Alexanderson alternator is an electromechanical transmitter dating back to 1924. The event will be streamed live on the Alexanderson site YouTube Channel. Listener reports are invited via email or direct to Radiostationen Grimeton 72, SE-432 98 Grimeton, Sweden. Amateur radio station SK6SAQ will be active on Christmas Eve on 7.035 and 14.035MHz on CW, and 3.755MHz SSB. Two stations will be on the air most of the time.

Youngsters on the Air month, or YOTA, runs throughout December. The next clubs to activate the GB18YOTA callsign will be the RSGB’s National Radio Centre today, the 156th. This is followed by Castle Rushen High School Radio Club on the 21st and Chertsey Club on the 22nd, 23rd and 24th. If you hear these stations and others around the world taking part in YOTA month, please take the time to contact the young people.

The forms and paperwork for the various RSGB Regional and Board elections is now available on the RSGB website at www.rsgb.org/nominations There are ten Regional vacancies, two elected Board Director vacancies, and two nominated Board Director vacancies. Volunteers are sought for all these roles. Details also appear in the January 2019 edition of RadCom.

Due to a change in working hours, Bill, G4IOD and Jasmine, G4KFP will no longer be able to read the news at 9.30am on Sundays, so replacements are being sought. At the end of the year, Bill will have read the news for 26 years and the RSGB would like to commend him on his service to his fellow amateurs. Ideally a small team of newsreaders covering the West Yorkshire area would mean that no single reader has to read each week. Contact [email protected] if you are willing to become part of the valuable news reading service.

Another call for volunteers, this time from Region 9. Regional Representative Tom, G0NSY is looking for District Representatives for the Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire areas. If you live in those areas and are interesting in joining the regional team, contact Tom via email to [email protected].

A reminder now that next week is the last GB2RS News broadcast of 2018. Transmissions resume on Sunday the 6th of January.

And finally, the RadCom editorial team apologises to David Jackson, G4HYY, his late brother G3ZMX and also to G4JYY, for errors made in recent Silent Keys listings in RadCom. We are pleased to report that G4HYY and G4JYY are alive and well, despite being reported to the contrary. We are very sorry for any distress caused and will print a correction in the February edition.

And now for the details of rallies and events for the coming week

We have no rallies in the diary for the next two weekends. To get your event into RadCom, onto GB2RS and on the RSGB website, please send details as early as possible to [email protected] – we need to know at least three to four months in advance to get your information into RadCom.

And now the DX news from 425 DX News and other sources

Elvira, IV3FSG is active as E44YL from Palestine until the 18th of December. She will operate SSB, RTYY and FT8. QSL via Club Log's OQRS or via IK3GES.

Harry, JG7PSJ will be active as JD1BMH from Chichijima, IOTA reference AS-031, from the 17th of December to the 2nd of January. He will operate CW, SSB and RTTY on the 160 to 10m bands. QSL via JD1BMH via the bureau or JG7PSJ direct. Harry does not use Logbook of the World.

Ben, DL6RAI is active as P4/DL6RAI from Aruba, SA-036, until the 27th of December. He will focus on the 160 and 80m bands. QSL via Club Log's OQRS, Logbook of The World or via his home call.

Anders, SM4KYN will be active as PJ2/SM4KYN from Curacao, SA-099, until the 14th of January. QSL direct to his home call.

Now the special event news

Several NASA Amateur Radio clubs will mark the 50th anniversary of Apollo 8 between the 21st and 27th of December. Apollo 8 was launched on the 21st of December 1968, and splashed down 6 days later on the 27th. It was the first manned spacecraft to leave low-Earth orbit, orbit the moon, and return safely. Special event operation will be on various bands and modes, and participating stations will self-spot on the DX cluster as well as via Facebook and Twitter.

Please send event details to [email protected], as early as possible, for free publicity on GB2RS, in RadCom and online. UK special event stations must be open to the public, so our free publicity can help make your efforts more widely known.

Now the contest news

The second machine generated mode, or MGM Contest on the 6 and 2m bands takes place this weekend, ending its 24 hour run at 1400UTC today, the 16th of December. This is the second in the series of this brand new concept contest dedicated to machine generated modes. The first leg in April was well received all over Europe. The now-popular FT8, MSK144, FSK441 and other machine generated modes are all allowed in this contest, with the emphasis on DX and with multipliers for each new 4 character locator square. The exchange is signal report and your 4-character locator. Visit www.rsgbcc.org/vhf/ for more information.

On Tuesday, the 1.3GHz UK Activity Contest runs from 2000 to 2230UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.

On Thursday the 70MHz FM Activity Contest runs from 1900 to 2000UTC, using FM only. It is immediately followed by the all-mode 70MHz UK Activity Contest from 2000 to 2230UTC. The exchange for both contests is signal report, serial number and locator.

Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO on Friday 14th December.

As we are approaching Christmas we have a festive twist to the HF propagation report this week.

Firstly though, this week saw a lack of sunspots with the solar flux index around 70. Geomagnetic conditions were better than they have been though due to lack of coronal holes, with the K index being two, one or zero as the week progressed. Next week NOAA says the solar flux index will probably be around 68 again, with quite settled geomagnetic conditions and a maximum K index of two, or perhaps three.

If you fancy something a little different, Santa Claus and his ham radio elves are on from Romania again in 2018 for the third consecutive year. The YP-XMAS callsigns are a tradition and the Romanian RadioClub Association, ARR, says it aims to give moments of joy to the radio community around the winter holidays. The Santa Claus story via radio waves was started by Finnish radio amateurs, beginning with OH9SCL in 1986 and, later, the OF9X team. It has been taken over in recent years by different colleagues from several European countries. In 2018, Romania is preparing for the largest team with activators in all the districts of YO. Google YP-XMAS for details, but all you have to do is contact at least three different YP-XMAS callsigns and they will be able to issue an electronic award directly from Santa Claus. HF propagation to Romania is probably best on 20 metres during the day, but falls back at night. 40 metres, or more likely 80 metres will be the favourite bands for contacts after dark.

And now the VHF and up propagation news.

It’s a low pressure theme from one of the longer-range models, with an area of low pressure right over the country by the second half of next week. A second model is slightly more cautious in bringing the next low in after mid-week, but nonetheless doesn’t really leave room for any high pressure of significance. This all means that the weather influence is very limited during this coming week. No real signs of Tropo, but possibly a little microwave bands rain scatter, although it's not a very strong hint.

This mid-winter period can produce some out of season Sporadic-E, although it will be limited and fleeting. The best way forward is to monitor the clusters for signs of 10m activity, showing as short-skip signals from Europe.

The Geminids meteor shower is over now so while we wait for the next major one, the Quadrantids in January, it’s back to early morning sporadic meteors for our meteor scatter DX on the low VHF bands.

The Moon’s declination goes positive today and its orbit is bringing it closer all this week. Moon windows for EME will lengthen and losses decrease as the week progresses, so get active in next weekend’s 3.4GHz activity session.

And that’s all from the propagation team this week.

GB2RS NEWS

Sunday 9th December 2018

The news headlines:

Watch an ISS contact on Friday

Turkey gets 60m and 6m

RSGB responds to CEPT Wireless Power report

An amateur radio contact with the International Space Station, facilitated by ARISS, is planned for Friday the 14th of December. The contact with Kenilworth school is scheduled for 1255UTC and will be streamed from around noon at https://live.ariss.org

Turkey’s telecom regulator, BTK, in a government gazette notice on the 29th of November, released two new amateur radio allocations. They are the new WRC-15 60m band, at 15W, plus an all mode 6m allocation of 50 to 52MHz, with a power limit of 75W.

The RSGB has made a submission to a CEPT regarding its Draft Report on Wireless Power Transmission for Electric Vehicles. This is the latest step as part of ongoing work by RSGB and IARU that is preparing for WRC-19 next autumn. A copy of the submission can be found at https://tinyurl.com/yavpsnx6

There will be no GB2RS Script for Sunday the 30th of December. The last news reading for 2018 will take place on Sunday the 23rd of December, with normal service resuming on Sunday the 6th of January. Individual Newsreaders may choose to run a net instead of the news during their slot on the 30th, though this must be under their own callsign, not GB2RS.

CWops is accepting nominations for the Advancing the Art of CW award for 2019. The purpose of the award is to recognise individuals, groups, or organisations that have made the greatest contribution toward advancing the art or practice of radio communications by Morse code. Nominations may be made by anybody, not limited to CWops members. Email nominations to [email protected] with a copy to [email protected]. Nominations must be received by the 1st of March 2019. Details are under the About tab at https://cwops.org

Youngsters on the Air month, or YOTA, runs throughout December. The next clubs to activate the GB18YOTA callsign will be Southampton University Wireless Society on the 12th, Durham & District ARS on the 14th, then the RSGB’s National Radio Centre will be operating the station on the 15th and 16th. Young people are welcome at the NRC where they will have the opportunity to experience amateur radio using the state of the at GB3RS station at the NRC. If you hear these stations and others around the world taking part in YOTA month, please take the time to contact the young people.

The RSGB is still taking bookings for the Introduction to Amateur Radio workshops running in association with Bletchley Park on the 15th and 16th of December. These workshops will give an introductory insight into the world of amateur radio, as well as a chance to see the RSGB’s National Radio Centre. So spread the word to any friends, family members, colleagues who might be interested in finding out more about our amazing hobby. Full details, including booking information and prices, can be found at tinyurl.com/ya7exjva

The GB3LEX 10GHz beacon was switched off at 1450UTC on the 29th of November. This is to enable investigations to identify the cause of a fault reported by a local user. Details of its switch on will be announced when more is known of the fault.

The RSGB has released a video of the YOTA 2018 event held between the 8th and 15th of August in South Africa. The event welcomed 74 young radio amateurs from all over the world, including participants from seven African countries. This video, filmed and edited by Peter Barnes, M0SWN, shows the highlights of the event, and accompanies the official blog at https://rsgb.org/yota2018

Worked all Postcodes is an award scheme announced by radio dealer Moonraker. Participants need to work as many postcodes as possible using a maximum of 10W, any mode, on the 70, 144, 430 and 1296MHz bands. Wednesday will be activity night and awards will be available for different numbers of postcodes. This all starts on the 2nd of January 2019 so keep an eye on the Moonraker blog for more information.

And now for the details of rallies and events for the coming week

Members of the British Vintage Wireless Society are holding a Swapmeet and Auction today, the 9th of December, at Royal Wootton Bassett Memorial Hall, Royal Wootton Bassett, Swindon, Wiltshire SN4 8EN. Doors open at 10am and the auction starts at around 1pm. More details of BVWS membership can be found at www.bvws.org.uk

We have no rallies in the diary for the weekend of the 15th and 16th of December.

To get your event into RadCom and GB2RS, please send details as early as possible to [email protected] – we need to know at least three to four months in advance to get your information into RadCom.

And now the DX news from 425 DX News and other sources

Cezar, VE3LYC and Adrian, KO8SCA are scheduled to operate as TX0M from the new IOTA, Morane Atoll, OC-297, until the 10th of December. They will then change to TX0A from Maria Est Atoll, OC-113, from the 12th to the 16th of December.

Tom, N9EAW will be active holiday style as HQ9T from Roatan Island, NA-057, in Honduras, until the 18th of December. He will operate SSB and slow CW on the HF bands. QSL direct to N9EAW.

Ben, DL6RAI is on the air as P4/DL6RAI until the 27th of December. Activity is holiday style on the low bands, with some activity in various contests. QSL via Logbook of the World.

Now the special event news

4O18YOTA is on the air from Montenegro during December for Youngsters On The Air. QSL via OQRS.

E71YOTA is also operating during December as part of YOTA from Bosnia-Herzegovina. QSL via OQRS.

ES9YOTA, in Estonia, is another station that will get young people on the amateur bands. QSL via OQRS.

Members of the Ethiopian Amateur Radio Society are QRV as ET3YOTA during December as part of YOTA. QSL via N2OO.

Special event station C4XMAS is on the air from Cyprus during the festive season. Activity will be on the 160 to 6m bands using CW, SSB and various digital modes. QSL via IZ4AMS.

Please send event details to [email protected], as early as possible, for free publicity on GB2RS, in RadCom and online. UK special event stations must be open to the public, so our free publicity can help make your efforts more widely known.

Now the contest news

The UK Six Metre Group’s Winter Marathon began on the 1st of December and runs until the end of January. There are no specific operating periods. Just work as many Locator squares as you can, when you can, using any mode on the 50MHz band.

The ARRL 10m Contest ends its 48 hour run at 2359UTC today, the 9th. Using CW and SSB, the exchange is signal report and serial number, with American and Canadian sending their State or Province code.

On Tuesday the 432MHz FM Activity Contest runs from 1900 to 2000UTC, using FM only. It is immediately followed by the all-mode 432MHz UK Activity Contest from 2000 to 2230UTC. The exchange for both contests is signal report, serial number and locator.

On Thursday the 50MHz FM Activity Contest runs from 1900 to 2000UTC, using FM only. It is immediately followed by the all-mode 50MHz UK Activity Contest from 2000 to 2230UTC. The exchange for both contests is signal report, serial number and locator.

The 2nd MGM Contest on the 6 and 2m bands takes place next weekend, the 15th and 16th of December, starting at 1400UTC and running for 24 hours. This is the second in the series of this brand new concept contest dedicated to MGM modes. The first leg in April was well received all over Europe. The now-popular FT8, MSK144, FSK441 and other MGM modes are all allowed in this contest, with the emphasis on DX and with multipliers for each new 4 character locator square. The exchange is signal report and your 4-character locator. Visit www.rsgbcc.org/vhf/ for more information.

Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO on Friday 7th December.

We had a new sunspot group, Region 2729, appear this week, although it is a member of the weakening Solar Cycle 24. The region formed fairly quickly in the sun’s southwest quadrant and at the time of writing was producing only very minor B-Class solar flares. It is unlikely to do too much for the solar flux index though, which was at 70 on Friday morning.

The Independent reported that the Northern Lights might be seen in the UK on Wednesday the fifth, but this proved to be over-optimistic. Meanwhile, the Daily Express said the Earth could be “plunged into darkness, with the solar wind having the power to affect satellites, knocking out GPS navigation, mobile phone signals and satellite TV”. The reality is that the large solar coronal hole MAY cause the K index to rise, but the effects were more likely to be felt late on Friday the 7th and the weekend. Next week, NOAA has the K index at two, thanks to a lack of coronal holes, and the solar flux index at 68.

We’d like to reiterate that this is a good season for low-band propagation though, with 160 and 80 metres coming into their own. Even 40m can be open to longer distances, even before sunset, so do keep an eye on the lower bands.

And now the VHF and up propagation news.

The Es’Hail 2 satellite launch went well and the bird is slowly moving to its final geostationary slot at 26 degrees East. Stations are already reporting reception of the commercial beacons with amateur equipment so check social media and the AMSAT site for details.

The night of Thursday the 13th and morning of Friday the 14th of December sees one of the largest meteor showers of the year, the Geminids. With a zenith hourly rate of around 120 the shower can give excellent meteor scatter reflections on the low VHF bands up to 144MHz, and for EME-class stations even on 432MHz. 144MHz stations with a small Yagi and a quiet site should be able to work plenty of stations using the MSK144 digimode.

The weekend starting this period off will have windy and unsettled weather, so there may be no Tropo around. Active systems like these may provide a few heavy showers to add rain scatter to the propagation on offer. The glimmer of hope with the next week is likely to be the appearance of a weak ridge of high pressure until mid-week. The second half appears to be a slide back into low-pressure weather, especially in the northwest of Britain, although high pressure remains just to the east. This may allow paths across the North Sea for a few more days, but none of these indicative weather types look to be really stand-out affairs.

Meanwhile, the Moon is at minimum declination today and reaches apogee this Wednesday, so concentrate on meteor scatter rather than the short Moon windows and high losses that will characterise this week on EME.

And that’s all from the propagation team this week.

GB2RS NEWS

Sunday 2nd December 2018

The news headlines:

Listen for YOTA stations

Intro to Amateur Radio workshops at Bletchley

High Altitude Balloon news

YOTA month has just started. The first club to activate the GB18YOTA callsign was Aberkenfig Radio Club in Bridgend on the 1st of December. Sandringham School Amateur Radio Club, with help from Verulam ARC, will activate it on Monday the 3rd. On the 5th, it’s the turn of Swansea Radio Club, then Silcoates School on the 6th and Hilderstone Radio Club on the 8th. If you hear these stations and others around the world taking part in YOTA month, please take the time to contact the young people.

The RSGB is still taking bookings for the Introduction to Amateur Radio workshops running in association with Bletchley Park on the 15th and 16th of December. These workshops will give an introductory insight into the world of amateur radio, as well as a chance to see the RSGB’s National Radio Centre. So spread the word to any friends, family members, colleagues who might be interested in finding out more about our amazing hobby. Full details, including booking information and prices, can be found at tinyurl.com/ya7exjva

On the 6th of December, a team from Hi-impact on the Wirral will launch another high altitude balloon, in conjunction with pupils from St Bridget's Primary School in West Kirby. Once again they will launch from Welshpool. They are hoping as many local amateurs and SWLs as possible will assist in feeding the data into HABHUB, using the DL-FLDIGI software. They will be launching at around 10.45am using a licence-exempt transmitter with the callsign STBRIDGET on 434.650MHz USB and RTTY, 50Baud, 425Hz shift, 7 bits, no parity, 2 stop bits.

Two more 2018 RSGB Convention lecture videos are available on the Members’ section of the RSGB website. Don Greenbaum, N1DG talks about the KH1/KH7Z Baker Island DXpedition and Bo Hansen, OZ2M lectures on P14, the digital mode for beacons, and why it is a success. To view the videos go to www.rsgb.org/videos

SpaceX has announced that the SSO-A, SmallSat Express mission carrying AMSAT’s Fox-1Cliff is now scheduled to launch today, the 2nd of December, at 1831:47UTC. It was previously scheduled to launch on the 28th of November but was been postponed due to extreme high-altitude winds at Vandenberg Air Force Base. In addition to Fox-1Cliff, the SSO-A mission will carry several other amateur radio satellites, including FUNcube on ESEO, JY1-SAT, K2SAT, and ExseedSat. The launch window extends for approximately 30 minutes. Fox-1Cliff has uplinks at UHF and L-band, and downlinks on VHF.

And now for the details of rallies and events for the coming week

Members of the British Vintage Wireless Society are holding a Swapmeet & Auction on the 9th of December at Royal Wootton Bassett Memorial Hall, Royal Wootton Bassett, Swindon, Wiltshire SN4 8EN. Doors open at 10am and the auction starts at around 1pm. More details of BVWS membership at www.bvws.org.uk

To get your event into RadCom and GB2RS, please send details as early as possible to [email protected] – we need to know at least three to four months in advance to get your information into RadCom.

And now the DX news from 425 DX News and other sources

Steff, HB9FXL will be in Cambodia until the 14th of December. Look for him with the callsign XU7AKB on SSB on all bands from 40 to 10m. QSL via Club Log OQRS.

Alain, F8FUA will be active as XT2BR from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso between the 2nd and 11th of December. He plans to operate CW, SSB and digital modes. QSL via F8FUA either direct or via the bureau and Logbook of The World.

Several Russian operators will sign H7/homecall from Big Corn Island in Nicaragua until the 7th of December. Also look for YN4RRC from the same location. The IOTA reference is NA-013. QSLs for the H7 Russian operation go via RZ3FW.

Remo, HB9SHD is active as H44SHD from Uepi, in the Solomon Islands, OC-149, until mid-December. He operates FT8 and SSB. QSL via his home callsign.

Martin, PT2ZDX will be active PS6I from Itaparica Island, SA-023, until the 7th of December. QSL direct to F4BHW.

Now the special event news

SX60RAAG will be active until the 31st of December to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Radio Amateur Association of Greece. QSL via Logbook of The World, eQSL or Club Log's OQRS. Logsearch and downloadable awards can be found at http://sx60raag.hamlogs.net/

Please send event details to [email protected], as early as possible, for free publicity on GB2RS, in RadCom and online. UK special event stations must be open to the public, so our free publicity can help make your efforts more widely known.

Now the contest news

The ARRL 160m contest ends its 40 hour run at 1600UTC today, the 2nd of December. It uses CW only. The exchange is just the signal report, although American and Canadian stations will also send their ARRL or RAC section number.

Also today, the 144MHz Affiliated Societies contest runs from 1000 to 1600UTC. Using all modes on the 144MHz band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.

The UK Six Metre Group’s Winter Marathon began on the 1st of December and runs until the end of January. There are no specific operating periods. Just work as many Locator squares as you can, when you can, using any mode on the 50MHz band.

On Tuesday the 144MHz FM Activity Contest runs from 1900 to 2000UTC, using FM only. It is immediately followed by the all-mode 144MHz UK Activity Contest from 2000 to 2230UTC. The exchange for both contests is signal report, serial number and locator.

Next weekend it’s the ARRL 10m Contest that runs from 0000UTC on the 8th to 12359UTC on the 9th. Using CW and SSB, the exchange is signal report and serial number, with American and Canadian sending their State or Province code.

Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO on Friday 30th November.

The CQ Worldwide CW contest last weekend showed that you can work DX with zero sunspots. Reports show that stations as far west as Arizona and California, plus the Caribbean, were workable from the UK on 20 metres, plus there were reports of some limited F2-layer openings on 10 metres. Chris, G0DWV even reported an afternoon greyline opening to Japan on 80m using a four-square antenna array for the band.

The sun remained spotless last week and geomagnetic conditions were very settled, which no doubt helped the HF DX. The Kp index never rose above two and was often at zero for long periods. However, at the time this report was being prepared there was still an alert out for potentially-unsettled conditions on Friday 30th and across the weekend due to ongoing coronal hole activity.

NOAA predicts that next week will see the solar flux index pegged at 68 again. Conditions should be a little more settled geomagnetically with a maximum K index of three for most of the week. Conditions may be a little worse on Friday the 7th and Saturday the 8th due to a high-speed solar wind stream from a recurrent coronal hole that will become Earth-facing again.

This is a good time to start to think about the lower bands. Eighty and 160 metres are starting to come into their own with the longer nights. If you have never worked the USA on 80m then it might be worth looking around UK sunrise. There is often transatlantic SSB activity around the top of the band, especially 3790-3800kHz, in the early morning.

And now the VHF and up propagation news.

There is a distinctly unsettled look to the charts again for the next week. This means that Tropo will not be a big player and the only weather-related DX option is probably limited to some occasional rain scatter on the microwave bands. During the winter months, rain scatter is most likely around the coasts than inland. Last Tuesday’s SHF UK Activity Contest saw the west of the UK missing out as the rain moved east just before the contest started, leaving a disturbed troposphere in its wake. This highlights the fact that good propagation rarely waits for you if you only operate during contests. Rain scatter paths from East Anglia to the North remained good throughout.

Other options might include some aurora on VHF if we are lucky. ‘Space Weather Woman’ Doctor Tamitha Skov tweeted last week that we might reach solar storm levels at the beginning of December due to the coming fast solar wind. So be on the lookout for that.

There are three small meteor showers this week – use Google to find the Make More Miles on VHF website for details. And remember that the big Geminids shower is only two weeks away now.

Moon declination goes negative today, so Moon windows will be shorter and of lower elevation as the week progresses. Note that the Sun will be very close to the Moon on Friday.

And that’s all from the propagation team this week.